As a woman who grew up proudly working class, making class a protected characteristic - like race and religion - is sheer lunacy: JULIE BINDEL

Is the blue-blooded aristocrat without a penny to their name suddenly working class, Julie Bindel asks. A YouGov poll from December 2024 found that a staggering 56 per cent of the population identify as working class. In a world where everyone claims to have had it hard, considering yourself working class has become a default option. And if it's made a protected characteristic, it will be abused by those who know how to play the system. A protected characteristic is something a person has to live with whether they like it or not, such as gender or race.